Hi @2fs we get the subtitle from various sources from libraries across the world, and indeed “a novel” enters the subtitle field quite often.
We could of course remove these for all books and never let them in. Something we can consider.
For now, for you, I just wanted to give you an alternative idea at least:
You can decide not to download the subtitle field, nor update it from Core.
In the main screen, click “Tools > Options”. Then click on “Data and Images”.
Then click the button “Download settings for data and images” to change settings for which field-information should/should not be downloaded or updated.
Having worked as a professional writer in several contexts (journalism, marketing and public relations, and technical publications), it’s my opinion that, if the words “A Novel” appear on the title page of a book, they were probably put there by the author and should be included in the core’s book data, usually as a subtitle.
The title page is a poor place to put marketing text because potential buyers must open the book to a specific page before they can see it. To eliminate that barrier, publishers almost always put their marketing blurbs on a book’s outside covers (paperbacks) or the outside of the dust jacket (hardcovers), where the sales message is visible to potential buyers as soon as they take a book off the seller’s shelf.
Regardless: this is clearly a convention, rather than a subtitle that conveys any information whatsoever in relation to the content of the book.
Re the advice to simply turn off the subtitle element: that makes sense since, even though CLZ’s database is more accurate than most, quite often it doubles up on the subtitle, placing both as part of the main title AND in the title field.
Because this was a very general issue, I forgot to specify that I’m using the (no longer supported) Mac version. I cannot find that option to not download subtitles in the Mac version (v20.2.2, I think the last one).
If anyone knows whether that feature is available in the Mac version, and if so, how to get to it, I’d appreciate it.
It is not I’m afraid, it never made it to the macOS version back in the day. Our web-app does have it… but I’m assuming you’ve already received emails about that to possibly trade in your macOS version. If not, find the gist below:
CLZ Books Web is easier to use and easier to manage, while still giving you all features and customization options. And it is has our full development focus, giving your regular updates with improvements and new features.
If you switch to CLZ Books Web with our Trade-In offer, we will trade-in your remaining Book Collector subscription days and will transfer them to the CLZ Books Web edition, plus we will add 4 extra months for free.
Full details about the advantages of CLZ Books Web, and our Trade-In Offer can be found here:
Let me know if you are interested or have any questions about switching to CLZ Books Web.
I recall that, at the time Mac development ended, I looked into Connect for Music…which didn’t work for me given the scale and scope of my collection and various customizations. But my book collection is more manageable in size and generally sticks to out of the box stuff in the app…I’ll investigate further.
I definitely would recommend to give it a try. We’re years and years further, more and more fields were added. Let me know if you have any questions - or if you need a fresh trial (I’m not sure how long ago you’ve tried it!)
Turning off subtitle would means you loose all of them. Maybe download them then use Folders Subtitle and select all the ones you don’t wnat and mass edit them out.
The question here was for the macOS version, which does not have a turn off feature.
But I’m still confused by your reply: how does turning off the subtitle remove all of them? (turning off downloading or updating of subtitles will never remove any existing data, only for all future books indeed - which might be what you meant, but I wanted to make sure)